2005 Iron Horse Brut Rose

This bottle goes for $50 through the winery, but as is the case with many Iron Horse wines you can do far far better if you shop around.

I really don't get much of a nose on this. Kind of a Tropical Punch Kool-Aid thing, but seriously watered down.

This is heavy. A bit toasty, some raspberry jam - totally full flavored but a nicely balanced body. A touch of vanilla, even a bit of peach, a nice zip of acid, and even some rather firmly developed tannic structure.

More of the same on the finish, what's interesting is this almost finishes as a light bodied Pinot Noir - rather full bodied, oak qualities, cherry, and ripe golden stone fruit.

So what happened is I wound up falling asleep with a a bit more than a full glass worth still in the bottle. Seeing as I neither chilled nor made any attempt to preserve it, I was about to spill it out the next afternoon when I decided it was worth a taste. Shockingly, a good deal of fizz still remained and the wine was still quite tasty. A cranberry quality took over the palate and finish.

I can see this wine being offputting to some. It's a distinct style - dare I say this would make a good cold weather sparkler? Maybe not winter cold, but if you enjoy sitting outside on a brisk spring evening this may fit the bill. All that being said, I dig it.

Score: 91

2006 Frei Brothers Russian River Valley Reserve Pinot Noir

This goes for roughly $25, but I found it in an end of bin sale for half that. I debated buying more than one bottle, but didn't want to risk it.

Cherry on the nose, but also a fair amount of barnyard.

Light bodied with an excellent balance of fruit and earth. Cherry and strawberry mostly with a big dash of white pepper and a touch of cola....in fact, it's more than a touch, this is a wine with fairly big cola flavor, and if I may say so, that is a damn good thing.

More cherry and spice on the finish which is admittedly short.

Though this isn't the best PN we've had, it's clearly the best for what I paid and a worthy entry even at retail. I may have to hit up the shop again and see if there are more on clearance. An easy recommendation.

Wine: 8
Value: Yep

2006 Three Knights Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

I believe it was in an old issue of Wine Spectator where I read Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley is probably the safest bet. Is it safe even if it's a measly seven bucks from Trader's Joe's?

A bit of strawberry, a bit of vanilla, and a bit of funk on the nose.

Lots of vanilla – strong enough that it's weird – some cherry, strawberry, mild tannins, and solid acid – a good structure all around.

The tannins come forward on the finish with some lingering strawberry notes.

I can't argue with this as a bottle of cheap wine, but if you're looking for a good quality Pinot Noir, look away.

2006 Rodney Strong Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

This goes for about $15 and has somewhat wide distribution around here – it's one of the higher shelf Pinot Noirs at the local grocery store.

Earth, tar, and cherry on the nose.

Lots of cola here – earthy and funky – some strawberry and raspberry. At first pour this is somewhat sharp, but the acid blows off after a couple hours of air, some sassafras starts to come through plus some interesting stone fruit and spicy notes – poached peaches and such. We're drinking this over one night – but I couldn't imagine this lasting overnight – after a few hours it's fading fast – it's not bad, it just gets very tame very fast.

Cherry cola and anise on the finish.

In terms of availability and price this one is perfectly reasonable – with definite varietal characteristics and no obvious flaws, it's almost Old World in style which is about as high of praise as I can give. I dig it.

2002 J Winery Russian River Valley Brut

This was $25 at the store and I figured I'd grab it to keep on hand, so well, you know, it's Sunday night, and we were eating leftovers, so what better time to crack open a sparkler?

Light toast and grapefruit on the nose.

A fairly bold palate – dry, crisp, yeasty, a bit of toast, tart green apples, and a bit of grapefruit zest. Somewhat disappointing in terms of bubbles – a solid stream to start, but after the bottle had been opened for two hours this was basically flat – flat though it may be, some interesting poached pear and sharply acidic notes really came through as the bubbles faded.

The acid – coming in citrus notes - really lingers on the finish leaving your mouth puckering.

For $25 this is about right for a domestic sparkler - the relatively quick failing of the bubbles is disappointing, but not a dealbreaker.

2005 Siduri Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

This one ran us $27, which is in our “special occasion” range...what’s the occasion? Well, we’ve both decided a need to slow down on this blog, wine consumption, and caloric intake.

I’ve said this before...and I’ve tried it before. One excellent plan was to go out and fill the wine rack with $20+ bottles of wines since I refuse to open those on a whim....of course that only led me to stop at the grocery store on the way home every night and pick up bottles of things like “Andre Champagne.” The thing that pushed me over the edge was trying on my wedding suit (which was less than two years ago) only to find it fit like something from when I was twelve...and I wasn’t exactly thin at the ceremony.

This means that the number of reviews will go down to about once a week, they will also become far more positive as I’ll insist on only things we’ve tried and enjoyed at tastings or those that came with strong praise from reliable sources.

So, here we are. I recently read an article, I believe in Wine Spectator, about the Russian River Valley being the strongest region for Pinot Noir in the US so I grabbed the most affordable bottle from the region I could find...and it was still nearly thirty bucks.

The nose is funky, earthy, and a bit musty with perhaps a hint of raspberry...imagine a forest with wild berries glistening in the morning dew. (This blog is getting better already, eh?)

The first few sips were a bit harsh, but with a bit of air it eased up. Lots of earth and funk–tobacco, maybe smoke?--with just the slightest hint of green. Some raspberry and cherry for fruit and plenty of acid. My advice is to give it at least an hour of air (or some time in the cellar I suppose).

The finish has a sassafrasy sort of taste

The greenness hurts my overall opinion, but sadly Pinot Noir is going up in price, especially from highly sought after areas like this. You can certainly do worse. I look forward to trying more Pinot Noir from this area to compare.

2005 Rodney Strong Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

We really haven’t had a lot of Pinot Noir since we started to really get into wine....I think it’s because other wine (Cabernet, Shiraz, etc) overpower them at tastings and in turn we usually grab the bigger, bolder wines. The more we drink Pinot Noirs, the more I love them because they are wines that benefit tremendously with serious thought and contemplation.

This one retails for $18 but I found it on sale for $11–being one who can’t pass a bargain I jumped on it.

I get wood, earth and funk on the nose.

On the palate: a touch of wood, earth, light berry fruit and a hint of vanilla.

The finish is subtle–wood, earth, and lingering vanilla.

This is a big enough label (I got it at a grocery store) that there’s no reason to pay the full retail price....it will go on sale and when it does I’d say go for it. For the price, you can probably do better at your local serious wine shop, but if you’re grabbing something at the market—go for it.